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Sima Zhao
'Sima Zhao '(211-265) was a vassal of Wei and second son of Sima Yi. With his older brother, Sima Shi, he wielded political power. Following his brother's death, he was made Supreme Commander. After Shu was subdued, he was named King of Jin. Biography Sima Zhao was born in 211, the second son of Sima Yi and Zhang Chunhua, younger brother of Sima Shi. Sima Zhao's father later became a strategist of the state of Cao Wei under Emperor Cao Cao, and in 228 AD, Sima Zhao was given command of some of his father's forces during Zhuge Liang of Shu's Northern Expeditions. Sima Zhao often served as an adjutant to his father, and at the Battle of Mt. Qi, his force was routed. In the Battle of Wuzhang Plains in 234 AD, Sima Zhao led a unit of bombardiers in an ambush against the Shu army when they were approaching the Wei main camp from the east. Sima Zhao was wounded again, but the battle was a Wei victory due to the death of the Wei strategist Zhuge Liang. After the Northern Expeditions, he served under his father in the Battle of Xiangping in 238 AD, when his father defeated the "King of Yan" Gongsun Yuan and his army. Sima Zhao was made a marquess for his father's abilities in the battle, although he had failed to perform well in combat. In 244 AD, he was sent to support General Cao Shuang's invasion of Shu alongside Deng Ai, a Wei officer who was one of the commanders of Sima Yi. In the Battle of Mt. Xingshi, Sima Zhao commanded the Wei attack on Wang Ping's supply depot in the northwest, and when the Shu commander Fei Yi led a surprise attack on the Wei main camp (as Deng Ai and Sima Zhao had warned Cao Shuang, to no avail), Sima Zhao rescued the general and aided him in fighting his way out of the Shu attack. Sima Zhao protected him from ambushes by Guan Suo, Huang Yueying, and Xingcai, and he also defeated Shu strategist Ma Dai in single combat at the end of the battle. Sima Zhao's fighting retreat allowed the Wei army to avoid certain disaster, and their army withdrew. Sima Zhao later aided his father in seizing control of the Wei court in Luoyang from Cao Shuang in the Incident at Gaoping Tombs in 249 AD, and was given sole command for the first time that same year when he was sent with his brother Sima Shi to take command of a Wei army and reinforce Governor of Hanzhong Guo Huai, who was being attacked at the Batte of Mt. Niutou by the Shu army of Jiang Wei. Sima Shi was the overall commander, but Sima Zhao also made contributions during the fight. Afterwards, he aided in the suppression of the rebellion of Wang Ling in 251 AD in Shouchun, the first of the Shouchun rebellions that transpired during the regency of the Sima clan over Wei. He also participated in the defeat of Jiang Wei's Northern Expeditions (249-263 AD), repeatedly stopping Jiang Wei's invasions of Hanzhong with the help of Deng Ai, Zhong Hui, Guo Huai (until his death in the 253 Battle of Mt. Tietong), and other talented commanders. Sima Zhao also led troops against rebellions within Wei, thwarting Emperor Cao Fang's attempts to have Sima Shi assassinated during his regency as well as crushing the rebellions of Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin. In 256 AD, after the death of Sima Shi, Sima Zhao was made the new regent of Wei. In 256 AD, he had Emperor Cao Mao give him the right to wear imperial roads, crowns, and boots, and in 257-258 AD he crushed Zhuge Dan's rebellion at Shouchun against his authority. Zhuge Dan's uprising, supported by Eastern Wu, resulted in a Wei victory because of Sima Zhao and Zhong Hui's ploy to force many Wu generals to surrender after the execution of general Zhu Yi by Sun Chen. In 258 AD, Sima Zhao cooked up a plot to prevent Emperor Cao Mao from leading an uprising against him. He forced the emperor to offer the "Nine Bestowments" (gift of a wagon and horses, clothes, armed guards, written music, a ramp, a red door, weapons, an axe, and wine), but refused them so that it would make it look like he was not a usurper. Whenever the people doubted his authority, he would have the Emperor offer him the bestowments again, refusing them each time. In 260 AD, however, Cao Mao attempted to lead a coup d'etat in Luoyang against Sima Zhao. Sima Zhao and his loyal commanders put down Cao Mao's uprising and had Cheng Ji execute him, before killing Cheng Ji so that the blame went on him and not on his strategist Jia Chong. Sima Zhao summoned Cao Huan to Luoyang, making him the next Emperor of Wei as a puppet. In 263 AD, Sima Zhao decided to finish off Shu, following several failed expeditions north by Jiang Wei that had exhausted all of Shu's materials and forces. Sima Zhao, Deng Ai, and Zhong Hui invaded Shu, and they captured the capital of Chengdu after victories at Jiange and Mianzhu. Emperor Liu Shan surrendered to Sima Zhao and was made a prince, while Sima Zhao accepted the Nine Bestowments from Cao Huan and was made Duke of Jin. The next year, Sima Zhao put down a rebellion by Jiang Wei and Zhong Hui, and Shu remained a possession of Cao Wei. Sima Zhao died in the autumn of 265 AD, shortly after he received the title of King of Jin, another step in the path to usurpation. His son, Sima Yan, succeeded him and proceeded to depose Cao Huan, forming the Jin Dynasty and conquering Eastern Wu in 280 AD. His wife Wang Yuanji was Empress Dowager of Jin until her death in 268 AD, three years after the death of Sima Zhao. Category:Jin Category:Wei Category:Generals Category:Kings Category:Jin emperors Category:Emperors Category:Chinese Category:211 births Category:265 deaths